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UK agrees with US assessment of Assad’s chemical weapon use and calls for co-ordinated response from the international community.

Speaking today about the US announcement on its assessment of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, Foreign Secretary William Hague said:

We welcome the decision of the United States to share this assessment with the international community.

We agree with the US assessment that chemical weapons, including sarin, have been used in Syria by the Assad regime.

The United Kingdom has presented evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria to the UN investigation, and we have been working with our allies to get more and better information about the situation on the ground. We condemn the deplorable failure of the Assad regime to cooperate with the investigative mission.

As I said in Washington on Wednesday, the crisis demands a strong, determined and coordinated response from the international community. We have to be prepared to do more to save lives, to pressure the Assad regime to negotiate seriously, to prevent the growth of extremism and terrorism, and to stop the regime using chemical weapons against its people.

We will be discussing that response urgently with the United States, France and other countries, including at the G8 this week.